Global semiconductor trade volumes reached an 18-month high in April 2026, according to data released by the Semiconductor Industry Association on Thursday, with total monthly shipments valued at $58.4 billion — up 14.3% year-on-year and 3.1% month-on-month. The surge is being driven almost entirely by AI infrastructure spending, with data centre operators and hyperscale cloud providers absorbing record quantities of advanced logic chips and high-bandwidth memory modules.

Taiwan and South Korea remain the dominant suppliers of advanced semiconductor nodes, accounting for over 60% of global revenue. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company reported that its 3-nanometre and 2-nanometre capacity is sold out through mid-2027, reflecting the extraordinary capital intensity of the current AI investment cycle. TSMC’s Arizona fabs — the first phase of which entered production in late 2025 — are ramping ahead of schedule, though they remain a relatively modest fraction of the company’s overall output.

The US-China technology trade restrictions introduced in 2023 and subsequently tightened continue to shape the competitive landscape. Chinese chipmakers have accelerated domestic investments in mature-node capacity, with SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor expanding 28-nanometre production that serves automotive, industrial, and consumer electronics segments. While China remains locked out of the leading-edge nodes underpinning AI accelerators, its mature-node self-sufficiency has reduced its dependence on imports for a wide range of applications.

For trade-dependent economies, the semiconductor boom creates significant upstream opportunities. Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand have attracted substantial foreign direct investment in advanced packaging and testing facilities, embedding themselves more deeply in the global value chain at a time when companies are actively seeking to diversify their geographic exposure beyond Taiwan.